Deadline Extended for Utility Merger Study

A state Public Utilities Commission official has given PUC staff members three more weeks in which to complete their in-depth review of San Diego Gas & Electric’s proposed merger with Southern California Edison.

PUC Administrative Law Judge Lynn T. Carew on Monday extended a Jan. 16 deadline until Feb. 9 after the commission’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates, which represents the public in utility matters, served notice that it needed more time.

Carew granted the extension because of the “crucial role” the report will play in the merger review. Commissioners will rely heavily upon the report when they determine if the merger, which would create the nation’s largest electric utility, should be approved.

The deadline extension for the report will not change “the commission’s goal of reaching a decision on the merger by year end 1990,” according to Carew’s ruling. Rather than delay the final decision, Carew tinkered with other deadlines in the PUC’ review.

SDG&E; and Edison were opposed to granting the staff time if it meant extending the merger review into 1991.

Ratepayer Advocates is “hopeful that there will be time to do what we need to do,” according to Philip S. Weismehl, attorney for the division. “We wanted a bit more time but we should be able to get a pretty good product out before the deadline.”

“Our main pitch (to Carew) was that we were very concerned about having (time to complete) a nice, clear, articulate case,” Weismehl said.

The new schedule should not hurt intervenors involved with the PUC’s merger review, said Michael Shames, executive director of Utility Consumers Action Network, a San Diego-based consumer group.

The Division of Ratepayer Advocates in recent weeks has taken depositions from top Edison officials, including Edison Chairman Howard Allen. Attorneys for the PUC division are scheduled to take additional depositions later this month from executives at Edison’s Mission Energy Group, an unregulated group of companies owned by Edison.

Carew’s revised review schedule calls for six public hearings in San Diego County during April. The hearings will be staged in San Diego (two hearings), Chula Vista, Escondido, Vista and El Cajon. Other hearings will be held in Ventura, Santa Ana, San Gabriel, Ontario and Los Angeles.